The four candidates fighting to be the next leader of the federal NDP could not give a clear answer to how they would handle a premier like Saskatchewan’s Brad Wall, who simply refuses to agree with a national carbon tax.

“No offence, but he’s like the man violently defending the future of the typewriter when everyone else has moved to cellphones,” NDP leadership candidate Charlie Angus said during the party’s leadership debate in Saskatoon Tuesday.

“I will work with any government on the Prairies that’s willing to diversify our economies so that we can build a way forward and Mr. Wall, I’m sorry, but the 20th century is over, we’re well into the 21st century … I say get on the program and start working with us.”

The Saskatoon debate — which was the fifth of eight such events happening across Canada this year — is the only one happening in the Prairies in advance of the party’s October leadership vote and featured a number of questions on issues specific to the region.

Unsurprisingly, the evening kicked off with a question about the federal carbon tax, which Wall and Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister oppose. Wall has promised to take Ottawa to court if the province is forced to adopt the plan.

Leadership candidate Jagmeet Singh, an NDP member of provincial Parliament in Ontario who wants his party to push for more ambitious carbon emission targets, said it’s important to acknowledge that “one size doesn’t fit all” when it comes to a carbon plan and said province-specific solutions need to be explored.

Candidate Niki Ashton, NDP MP for northern Manitoba, said she knows Wall does not speak for everyone in the province when he opposes the carbon tax and said governments need to support diversifying the economy.

More than 400 people flocked to TCU Place Tuesday to take in the debate, forcing organizers to bring in additional chairs. Still, a handful of spectators had to stand in the back to hear the leadership hopefuls speak.

Candidates spoke on a number of topics, including the need to improve relationships with Indigenous people, lift people out of poverty and grow support for the NDP.

Candidates on creating a nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous people

Singh: The party needs to fight discrimination in police forces. “It hurts when you’re singled out for the colour of your skin and when you have policing that perpetuates this feeling that there’s something wrong with you for being in your own community.”

Ashton: Third-world living conditions on First Nations reserves need to be addressed. “Why would you live in a home of 25 people that’s mould infested? Why would you send your kid to a school that isn’t a proper school with not enough textbooks or even pencils? Why would you stay there? People want to be able to live in their own communities and stay in their own communities.”

Angus: An affordable housing will help address problems faced by First Nations communities. “We need to address the housing crisis so that Indigenous youth — just like seniors, just like other people — can live with dignity because to put that potential and that support is going to transform our nation in ways that we have never even imagined.”

Caron: No amount of promises will improve the federal government’s relationship with Indigenous people; the party needs to back words with action. “What we need to do as a party, until the next election and after, is regain the trust.”

Candidates on improving public safety

Caron: The party needs to reform the justice system. “When you’re going to try to make people feel safe by making the justice system very inefficient and very costly, we’re all losing in the end.”

Angus: Investment is needed in affordable housing. “So much of the recidivism in crime is from people who are ending up on the streets without housing, who are ending up without the support for dealing with drug addiction, which a very major driver of this, and so we actually need to talk about putting those investments in.”

Ashton: Programs such as tuition-free education and harm reduction programs will reduce crime. “The vulnerabilities that exist are very much linked to poverty and the land of housing. We need to expand the social safety net to lift people up so that they all, we all, feel secure in our communities.”

Singh: The country needs to adopt a rehabilitative justice model. “Instead of criminalizing addicts or the poor, we need to provide harm reduction and ways to move away from criminalization.”

Candidates on whether they would partner with Justin Trudeau’s Liberals if it would mean keeping the Conservatives out of power.

Ashton: No. “The only option for Canadians to take on the issues of our time is voting NDP.”

Caron: No. “It’s clear that to me that the Liberals are acting a lot like Conservatives right now.”

Singh: No. “We are the only solution.”

Angus: No. “I didn’t get into politics to carry the plate for the Liberal dinner.”

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